1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention generally relates to a method and system for administering a greeting card and lottery game combination. More specifically, the instant invention relates to a method of administering the greeting card and lottery game combination with the lottery game selected based on information obtained from the greeting card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Entities that administer lottery games, such as state governments, casinos, etc., are continually developing lottery games and marketing campaigns for lottery games to appeal to consumers and increase sales of the lottery games. For example, state lotteries periodically roll out new lottery games, themed games (such as variously-themed scratch-off lottery games), and marketing campaigns for purposes of attracting new consumers to purchase the lottery games and/or for increasing volume of sales. Thus, it stands to reason that the entities that administer lottery games continually strive to pursue opportunities that attract new consumers to and increase volume sales of the lottery games.
The greeting card industry is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States alone, with the practice of exchanging greeting cards well-entrenched in American society for generations. Greeting cards are exchanged for various special occasions, especially for birthdays, holidays, and special events such as graduations. It has become common practice to enclose money or other objects of value, such as lottery games, in the greeting cards, and many greeting cards exist that are specially adapted for holding money or lottery games. In fact, certain greeting cards are themed in a manner that refers to the money or other object of value.
The existing practice of enclosing lottery games in the greeting cards suffers from many disadvantages. For example, combined greeting cards and lottery games are incapable of providing an integrated appearance. More specifically, lottery games are not designed to correlate to a particular greeting card design, and regardless of the detail with which greeting cards are designed to correlate to a particular lottery game, the combined greeting cards and lottery games are incapable of providing an appearance to the consumer that the combined greeting card and the lottery game are designed for each other. While greeting cards have been marketed that have a theme that generally matches the theme of a particular lottery game, there is still a disconnect relative to the particular details of the greeting cards and the details of the lottery game that is perceptible to the consumer. For example, while a holiday-themed greeting card may be marketed to correlate with a holiday-themed lottery game, that is the extent of the correlation and the details of the respective designs are not correlated. Combined greeting cards and lottery games having the disconnect between such details appear unprofessional and haphazardly prepared, which is undesirable from the standpoint of the consumer. Further, even when greeting cards are designed to correlate to a particular lottery game, the burden remains on the consumer to verify that the vendor of the greeting card has a lottery game that is appropriate for the given greeting card and to select the particular lottery game. As such, the purchase of a themed greeting card that merely generally correlates to a particular lottery game still requires a decision on the part of the consumer to select an appropriate lottery game to include with the themed greeting card.
One reason for the aforementioned disconnect is the fact that, to date, greeting card manufacturers, entities that administer lottery games, and vendors of the greeting cards and lottery games have not collaborated to create a combined greeting card and a lottery game that can achieve an integrated appearance. Due to the secure nature of lottery games and the care that must be taken to avoid compromising the security of the lottery games, entities that administer lottery games have avoided creating combined greeting card and lottery games themselves that are integrated prior to sale. Because such a combined greeting card and lottery game would have to remain under tight control at all times prior to sale, there is no way to make the combined greeting card and lottery game seamlessly accessible to the consumer such that the consumer would not have to change purchasing habits for purposes of selecting the combined greeting card and lottery game. For example, the combined greeting card and lottery game would have to be maintained at a point of sale, with the combined greeting card and lottery game displayed apart from a customary greeting card display location with conventional greeting cards. Alternatively, a dummy greeting card and lottery game would have to be provided at the customary greeting card display location with the conventional greeting cards, with the consumer required to request a valid combined greeting card and lottery game at the point of sale.
Another disadvantage of the existing practice of enclosing lottery games in greeting cards is that the selection of a lottery game to include in a greeting card places an added burden on the consumer to make an additional decision as to an appropriate lottery game to select, which is a natural disincentive for the consumer to select a greeting card that is specially adapted for holding a lottery game. The disincentive that arises due to the requirement for the additional decision on the part of the consumer is highlighted by the difficulty that many consumers experience with even selecting a desired greeting card for a given occasion. As a result, the excessive effort that is required to both select a greeting card that is specially adapted for holding a lottery game and to select an appropriate lottery game to include with the greeting card tends to drive consumers to purchase traditional greeting cards (i.e., those not adapted to hold a lottery game).
Despite the past inability of the entities that administer lottery games to successfully provide a greeting card and lottery game combination, there is a strong desire to provide a method of administering a greeting card and lottery game combination that overcomes the aforementioned obstacles due to the strong market potential for such greeting card and lottery game combinations and due to the additional revenue that could be generated from sale of the greeting cards themselves, in addition to revenue generated from the lottery games. In particular, there remains an opportunity to provide a method and system for administering a greeting card and lottery game combination that enables the greeting card to be seamlessly incorporated into traditional environments that are accessible to the consumer without compromising the secure nature of the lottery game such that the consumer does not have to change purchasing habits for purposes of selecting the combined greeting card and lottery game. There further remains an opportunity to provide a method and system for administering a greeting card and lottery game combination that may be capable of achieving an integrated appearance of the greeting card and lottery game combination. There further remains an opportunity to provide a method and system for administering a greeting card and lottery game combination that reduces a burden on the consumer to select an appropriate lottery game to include with a selected greeting card.